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It’s Time to Clear Out Your Google Drive and Gmail

Save money on storage by following these simple steps.

Google Drive and Gmail are packed with some of Google’s most popular services. You even get a combined 15GB of storage space for free to use for all those services — which can fill up fast. Google will notify you when you’re close to that limit and ask if you want to buy more storage. Google’s storage plans start at $2 a month so you might be tempted to pay, but you don’t have to. There are other, free ways to manage your digital space. 

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Here’s how to free up Google Drive and Gmail space on desktop and mobile so you don’t have to pay for additional storage. We recommend doing this on desktop, as you’ll have an easier time sorting through and managing files rather than doing it on your mobile device. 

Delete large files first

If you only want to delete a few items from Google Drive and Gmail to free up space, you can sort each service by file size and delete one or two large files instead of a few dozen smaller items.

Here’s how to delete files by size in Google Drive on your desktop:

1. Log into your Google Drive account.

2. Once logged in, click Storage in the menu on the left side of the screen.

3. The Storage page should list your files from largest to smallest, but if not click Storage Used on the right side of the screen. The files should now be ordered from largest to smallest.

4. Click large files you want to delete to select them, then click either the trash bin in the top right of your screen or drag the large files to Trash on the left side of the screen. 

5. Click Trash to go to the Trash menu. 

6. Click Empty Trash in the top-right corner of your screen.

7. Click Delete forever and your files are gone.

You can do this in the Google Drive app, as well. Here’s how:

1. Open your Google Drive app and log into your account.

2. Tap Files in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

3. Tap Name underneath My Drive near the top of the screen.

4. Tap Storage Used. This will arrange your files from largest to smallest.

5. Tap the three dots () next to the item you want to delete.

6. Tap Remove.

7. Tap the hamburger icon in the top-left corner of the screen next to Search in Drive

8. Tap Trash.

9. Tap the three dots () in the top-right corner of the screen.

10. Tap Empty trash.

Gmail, Google's ubiquitous email serviceGmail, Google's ubiquitous email service

Whether you need to make room, or just to keep your Gmail tidy, it’s easy to make room for storage in the service.

James Martin/CNET

You can also arrange and delete files by size in Gmail on the desktop. Here’s how:

1. Log into your Gmail account. 

2. Type has:attachment larger:10MB into the search bar and hit Search. This will show you all emails that have attachments larger than 10 MB from largest to smallest. You can use this format to filter by other size files, not just 10 MBs. 

3. Check the boxes to the left of each email you want to delete, then click the Trash icon in the top-right corner of the screen.

4. Click Trash on the left side of the screen to go to the Trash menu. If you don’t see Trash, click More and Trash should be in the expanded menu. 

5. Once in Trash, click Empty trash now at the top of the screen.

Here’s how to arrange and delete files by size in the Gmail app:

1. Open your Gmail app and log into your account.

2. Type has:attachment larger:10MB into the search bar and hit Search. This will show you all emails that have attachments larger than 10MB, from largest to smallest. You can use this format to filter by other size files too, not just 10MBs. 

3. Tap into the email you want to delete.

4. Tap the trash bin icon in the top-right corner of your screen.

5. Tap < in the top-left corner of your screen.

6. Tap the hamburger icon in the top-left corner of the screen next to Search in mail

7. Tap Trash.

8. Tap Empty trash now.

Note that once a file goes to Trash, it will automatically delete after 30 days.

Empty your Gmail spam folder

It’s easy to forget about emptying your spam folder, and it can double the amount of data your Gmail account uses. Emptying your spam folder (or your social or promotions folders) is an easy way to make space. 

Here’s how to empty your spam folder on your desktop:

1. Log into your Gmail account.

2. Once logged in, click Spam on the left side of the screen. If you don’t see Spam, click More, and Spam should be in the expanded menu.

3. In your Spam folder, click Delete all spam messages now.

Here’s how to empty your spam folder in the mobile app:

1. Open the Gmail app and log into your account.

2. Tap the hamburger icon in the top-left corner of the screen next to Search in mail.

3. Tap Spam.

4. Tap Delete all spam messages now or Empty spam now.

Person under a pile of papers which have the word "SPAM" printed on them in orangePerson under a pile of papers which have the word "SPAM" printed on them in orange

Don’t let spam bog your Gmail down.

Getty Images

Clean up your Google Photos

Google also includes Google Photos in the 15GB of free storage it gives its users. Photos and videos can take up more space than text-based files so it’s a good idea to go through and delete old photos and videos to make room.

Unfortunately, there’s no option to arrange your photos and videos from largest to smallest like in Google Drive and Gmail, so you will have to go through and delete items manually. 

Here’s how to delete photos and videos from Google Photo on your desktop:

1. Open and log into Google Photos.

2. Scroll your mouse over photos and videos you want to delete and click the gray check mark icon in the top left corner of the photo or video.

3. Click the trash icon in the top right corner of the screen.

4. Click Move to trash.

5. Click Trash on the left side of the screen.

6. Click Empty trash near the top-right corner of your screen.

7. Click Empty trash again, and you’re set.

Here’s how to delete photos and videos from the Google Photo mobile app:

1. Open and log into Google Photos.

2. Tap the photo or video you want to delete.

3. Tap the trash icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

4. Tap Delete

5. Tap Library in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

6. Tap Trash.

7. Tap the three dots () in the top-right corner of the screen.

8. Tap Empty trash.

9. Tap Delete

If you don’t click or tap Empty trash on either platform, the photos and videos you’ve deleted will automatically delete after 60 days. 

Google One Plan Upgrade when Google Photos Unlimited endsGoogle One Plan Upgrade when Google Photos Unlimited ends

Photos and videos in Google Photos can take up a lot of storage.

Sarah Tew/CNET

When all else fails, download your files

If your storage is still almost full and you can’t part with any more items from your Google Drive, Gmail or Google Photos, you can download your items and store them directly on your computer.

Here’s how to download your Google Drive files for storage on another hard drive.

1. Open and log into your Google Drive account on your desktop.

2. Select the files you want to download.

3. Click the three stacked dots in the upper-right corner of your screen.

4. Click Download.

5. Once the items are downloaded, feel free to delete them from your Google Drive.

You can also download your emails from Gmail. Here’s how:

1. Open and log into your Gmail account on your desktop.

2. Click and open an email you want to download. 

3. Click the three stacked dots next to the date of the email.

4. Click Download message.

5. Once the emails are downloaded, you can delete them from your Gmail.

Here’s how to download photos and videos from Google Photos:

1. Open and log into your Gmail account on your desktop.

2. Click and open a photo or video you want to download.

3. Click the three stacked dots in the top-right corner of the screen.

4. Click Download.

5. Once the items are downloaded, you’re free to delete them from your Google Photos.

For more, check out these 10 Gmail tips and tools, nine Google Drive features you might have missed and five Google Photos features to try now.

Technologies

These Continuous Glucose Monitors Have Been Recalled Due to Faulty Speakers. What You Need to Do to Stay Safe

There have been 56 serious injuries reported related to this Class I recall. If you use Dexcom’s continuous glucose monitoring systems, this is what you need to know.

Dexcom customers, listen up: Certain continuous glucose monitoring receivers have been recalled due to speaker malfunctions, which can cause you to miss alerts or alarms for dangerous blood sugar levels. Since May 2025, there have been 112 complaints globally, with 56 reported injuries. 

Missing an alert from your continuous glucose monitor may result in health consequences like vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness and hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic symptoms. 

Certain Dexcom G6, G7, One and One Plus receivers are included in this recall. The One and One Plus receivers are available outside of the US. 

Dexcom is one of the most popular continuous glucose monitor brands, and many people with diabetes use Dexcom devices to track their glucose levels in real time.

According to Dexcom’s update, even without the audio output from the speaker, your receiver will still alert you through vibration and visual prompts. However, that’s only so helpful when many people keep their receivers in their pockets or bags. People who use the mobile app for glucose values, alerts and alarms will still be able to do so without interruption.

What you should do right now

A continuous glucose monitoring system has three parts: the glucose sensor you wear, a transmitter and the small receiver you keep for alerts. The receiver is being recalled, not the sensor you wear, so you shouldn’t expect the readings you get from your device to be inaccurate.

If you use a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor, check the complete list of affected devices for the model and serial number. You can also go to Dexcom’s website to see if your device is affected. These numbers are on the back of your receiver.

If your device is affected, contact Dexcom immediately for a free replacement. Continuous glucose monitors aren’t something you can just stop using, so it’s essential to get in your replacement order as soon as possible. Remember, while you wait, that there’s a chance your receiver speaker isn’t working correctly and you will not be alerted with a sound to spikes or drops in your blood sugar.

You should regularly test the speakers each time you charge your receiver. When you plug the receiver in, the Speaker Test screen will appear for a few seconds. To test your sound, follow the directions on the screen. If it doesn’t beep, then it’s time to contact Dexcom. Remember that it’s important to continue testing your speaker over time. Checking it once doesn’t mean it can’t fail in the future. Even if your device isn’t under recall, this is a good habit to have.

You can also test your receiver’s speaker at any time through the device’s menu. For support during this recall, contact Dexcom technical support at 1-844-478-1600.

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Technologies

Tariff Inflation Is Looking Real, So I’m Tracking 11 Key Products for Price Moves

A new report found inflation on the rise in June, another indicator of the affect Donald Trump’s tariffs are having on the US economy.

Throughout the second Trump administration, tariffs have become the defining aspect of the president’s economic agenda, and while they might have been an obscure subject before, now consumers and businesses alike are worrying: will they cause prices to increase? It’s a question more relevant than ever, as President Donald Trump punts another major deadline down the road and a new Consumer Price Index summary showing that inflation was 2.7% in June, the biggest jump since February.

Amid those worries, I’ve been tracking prices every day for 11 key products likely to be hit by tariff-induced price increases, and the answer I’ve come to so far is this: Not so much, at least not yet. The winding road of tariff inflation still stretches before us into an uncertain future, so the threat of price hikes continues to cloud the horizon.

To date, I’ve seen two noteworthy price increases, one for the Xbox Series X and the other for a popular budget-friendly 4K TV. Some other products — including Apple’s popular AirPods — have gone on sale for brief periods. 

CNET Tariff Tracker Index

Above, you can check out a chart with the average price of the 11 products included in this piece over the course of 2025. This will help give you a sense of the overall price changes and fluctuations going on. Further down, you’ll be able to check out charts for each individual product being tracked. Based on the numbers so far, the average has gone up noticeably since the start of the year, but this has been driven mostly be a big shifts for a few products, as most price are still stable.

We’ll be updating this article regularly as prices change. It’s all in the name of helping you make sense of things, so be sure to check back every so often. For more, check out CNET’s guide to whether you should wait to make big purchases or buy them now and get expert tips about how to prepare for a recession.

Methodology

We’re checking prices daily and will update the article and the relevant charts right away to reflect any changes. The following charts show a single bullet point for each month, with the most recent one labeled «Now» and showing the current price. For the past months, we’ve gone with what was the most common price for each item in the given month. 

In most cases, the price stats used in these graphs were pulled from Amazon using the historical price-tracker tool Keepa. For the iPhones, the prices come from Apple’s official materials and are based on the 128-gigabyte base model of the latest offering of the iPhone 16. For the Xbox Series X, the prices were sourced from Best Buy using the tool PriceTracker. If any of these products happen to be on sale at a given time, we’ll be sure to let you know and explain how those price drops differ from longer-term pricing trends that tariffs can cause.

The 11 products we’re tracking

Mostly what we’re tracking in this article are electronic devices and digital items that CNET covers in depth, like iPhones and affordable 4K TVs — along with a typical bag of coffee, a more humble product that isn’t produced in the US to any significant degree. 

The products featured were chosen for a few reasons: Some of them are popular and/or affordable representatives for major consumer tech categories, like smartphones, TVs and game consoles. Others are meant to represent things that consumers might buy more frequently, like printer ink or coffee beans. Some products were chosen over others because they are likely more susceptible to tariffs. Some of these products have been reviewed by CNET or have been featured in some of our best lists.

Below, we’ll get into more about each individual product, and stick around till the end for a rundown of some other products worth noting.

iPhone 16

The iPhone is the most popular smartphone brand in the US, so this was a clear priority for price tracking. The iPhone has also emerged as a major focal point for conversations about tariffs, given its popularity and its susceptibility to import taxes because of its overseas production, largely in China. Trump has reportedly been fixated on the idea that the iPhone can and should be manufactured in the US, an idea that experts have dismissed as a fantasy. Estimates have also suggested that a US-made iPhone would cost as much as $3,500.

Something to note about this graph: The price listed is the one you’ll see if you buy your phone through a major carrier. If you, say, buy direct from Apple or Best Buy without a carrier involved, you’ll be charged an extra $30, so in some places, you might see the list price of the standard iPhone 16 listed as $830.

Apple’s been taking a few steps to protect its prices in the face of these tariffs, flying in bulk shipments of product before they took effect and planning to move production for the US market from China to India. A new Reuters report found that a staggering 97% of iPhones imported from the latter country, March through May, were bound for the US. This latter move drew the anger of Trump again, threatening the company with a 25% tariff if they didn’t move production to the US, an idea CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly shot down in the past. This came after Trump gave a tariff exemption to electronic devices including smartphones, so the future of that move seems in doubt now.

Duracell AA batteries

A lot of the tech products in your home might boast a rechargeable energy source but individual batteries are still an everyday essential and I can tell you from experience that as soon as you forget about them, you’ll be needing to restock. The Duracell AAs we’re tracking are some of the bestselling batteries on Amazon.

Samsung DU7200 TV

Alongside smartphones, televisions are some of the most popular tech products out there, even if they’re an infrequent purchase. This particular product is a popular entry-level 4K TV and was CNET’s pick for best overall budget TV for 2025. Unlike a lot of tech products that have key supply lines in China, Samsung is a South Korean company, so it might have some measure of tariff resistance. 

After spending most of 2025 hovering around $400, this item has now seen some notable upticks on Amazon, most recently sitting around $450. This could potentially be in reaction to Trump’s announcement of 25% tariffs against South Korea this week.

Xbox Series X

Video game software and hardware are a market segment expected to be hit hard by the Trump tariffs. Microsoft’s Xbox is the first console brand to see price hikes — the company cited «market conditions» along with the rising cost of development. Most notably, this included an increase in the price of the flagship Xbox Series X, up from $500 to $600. Numerous Xbox accessories also were affected and the company also said that «certain» games will eventually see a price hike from $70 to $80.

Initially, we were tracking the price of the much more popular Nintendo Switch as a representative of the gaming market. Nintendo has not yet hiked the price of its handheld-console hybrid and stressed that the $450 price tag of the upcoming Switch 2 has not yet been inflated because of tariffs. Sony, meanwhile, has so far only increased prices on its PlayStation hardware in markets outside the US.

AirPods Pro 2

The latest iteration of Apple’s wildly popular true-wireless earbuds are here to represent the headphone market. Much to the chagrin of the audiophiles out there, a quick look at sales charts on Amazon shows you just how much the brand dominates all headphone sales. While Prime Day might be in the rearview mirror at this point, you can grab a pair of these earbuds for $169, a $30 discount from where they’ve been most of the year.

HP 962 CMY printer ink

This HP printer ink includes cyan, magenta and yellow all in one product and recently saw its price jump from around $72 — where it stayed for most of 2025 — to $80, which is around its highest price over the last five years. We will be keeping tabs to see if this is a long-term change or a brief uptick. 

This product replaced Overture PLA Filament for 3D printers in this piece, but we’re still tracking that item.

Anker 10,000-mAh, 30-watt power bank

Anker’s accessories are perennially popular in the tech space and the company has already announced that some of its products will get more expensive as a direct result of tariffs. This specific product has also been featured in some of CNET’s lists of the best portable chargers. 

Bose TV speaker

Soundbars have become important purchases, given the often iffy quality of the speakers built into TVs. While not the biggest or the best offering in the space, the Bose TV Speaker is one of the more affordable soundbar options out there, especially hailing from a brand as popular as Bose. 

Oral-B Pro 1000 electric toothbrush

They might be a lot more expensive than their traditional counterparts but electric toothbrushes remain a popular choice for consumers because of how well they get the job done. I know my dentist won’t let up on how much I need one. This particular Oral-B offering was CNET’s overall choice for the best electric toothbrush for 2025.

This product hasn’t seen its price budge one way or another most of the year, but while Prime Day might have come and gone, there’s still a $10 coupon listed on Amazon right now, letting you save a little bit of money for the time being.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook

Lenovo is notable among the big laptop manufacturers for being a Chinese company making its products especially susceptible to Trump’s tariffs.

For now, its price has been largely unchanged in the last few months. You can, however, grab it on Amazon right now at a $20 discount, but we’ll have to see how long that actually lasts.

Starbucks Ground Coffee (28-ounce bag)

Coffee is included in this tracker because of its ubiquity —I’m certainly drinking too much of it these days —and because it’s uniquely susceptible to Trump’s tariff agenda. Famously, coffee beans can only be grown within a certain distance from Earth’s equator, a tropical span largely outside the US and known as the «Coffee Belt.» 

Hawaii is the only part of the US that can produce coffee beans, with data from USAFacts showing that 11.5 million pounds were harvested there in the 2022-23 season — little more than a drop in the mug, as the US consumed 282 times that amount of coffee during that period. Making matters worse, Hawaiian coffee production has declined in the past few years.

All that to say: Americans get almost all of their coffee from overseas, making it one of the most likely products to see price hikes from tariffs. While this particular bag of beans from Starbucks hasn’t seen its price budge for most of the year, in recent days it ticked up by less than a dollar on Amazon, which could be a sign of further increases to come.

Other products

As mentioned, we occasionally swap out products with different ones that undergo notable price shifts. Here are some things no longer featured above, but that we’re still keeping an eye on:

  • Nintendo Switch: The baseline handheld-console hybrid has held steady around $299 most places — including Amazon — since it released in 2017. Whether that price will be affected by tariffs or the release of the Switch 2 remains to be seen. This product was replaced above with the Xbox Series X.
  • Overture PLA 3D printer filament: This is a popular choice on Amazon for the material needed to run 3D printers. It has held steady around $15 on Amazon all year. This product was replaced above by the HP 962 printer ink.

Here are some products we also wanted to single out that haven’t been featured with a graph yet:

  • Razer Blade 18 (2025), 5070 Ti edition: The latest revision of Razer’s largest gaming laptop saw a $300 price bump recently, with the base model featured an RTX 5070 Ti graphics card now priced at $3,500 ahead of launch, compared to the $3,200 price announced in February. While Razer has stayed mum about the reasoning, it did previously suspend direct sales to the US as Trump’s tariff plans were ramping up in April.
  • Asus ROG Ally X: The premium version of Asus’s Steam Deck competitor handheld gaming PC recently saw a price hike from $799 to $899, coinciding with the announcement of the company’s upcoming Xbox-branded Ally handhelds.
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Technologies

Donkey Kong Bananza Review: Like Mario And Zelda Smashed Together on Switch 2

DK is turning the Switch 2 into a must-have right out of the gate.

Summers are about big, fun, mind-numbing movies. Great escapes in the best of ways. I need that right now, and maybe you do too. I’m happy to say that Donkey Kong Bananza is here to whisk you off to multilevel worlds of satisfyingly smashing madness, to cheer you up and give you an excuse to punch the heck out of things. It’s a game my 12-year-old son has loved playing along with me, although I’ve had to find ways to wrestle the game back to play for myself.

I was wowed by Bananza during an early preview a few weeks ago, but after a few weeks of play at home, it’s even better. This is my favorite Switch game since… I have no idea when. Maybe since Super Mario Odyssey.

The catch is that you need the new Nintendo Switch 2 console to play it. Donkey Kong Bananza won’t work on the original Switch — or on any other gaming device. Of course, that’s the whole idea.

Nintendo needed home run games for its new Switch 2 console, and it hit a grand slam with the new Donkey Kong. I still haven’t finished the game, but I already know it’s the best reason to buy a Switch 2 yet. 

Donkey Kong Bananza is available for $70 from Nintendo.com and other retailers. We’re also keeping track of Nintendo Switch 2 restocks if you’re still seeking a console.

Smashing story with co-op options

In a lot of ways, Bananza feels like Zelda and Mario met in the middle. 

The story’s weird, but what Mario (or Nintendo) game isn’t? Donkey Kong’s world has been threatened by a sinister bunch of apes, after a large meteor knocks a mining company deep into the planet’s core. The adventure involves diving down into those sublevels — it’s Donkey Kong Hollow Earth, or Journey to the Center of the Kongiverse. The big difference in this game is that you can destroy just about anything, burrowing and tunneling throughout the game’s large 3D maps.

Technically, this isn’t a true collaborative co-op game, but there’s a mode where Pauline — a young girl who mysteriously fell from the sky and becomes Donkey Kong’s friend — can throw her voice, literally, at things to destroy them. A second player takes over as Pauline and aims and shoots words at enemies, and can absorb material powers from nearby rocks and objects. It’s more engaging than the hat-throwing co-op in Odyssey. 

You can Game Share Bananza with a local Switch 2 or Switch 1 in co-op mode to play on two screens, or just play on one. For this review, I wasn’t allowed to Game Share to a second Switch.

The Mario mojo

Bananza is made by the Super Mario Odyssey team, and its 3D platforming feels like a Mario sequel. You can wander through large but still self-contained sublevels that remind me of the Kingdoms in Super Mario Odyssey. As you descend to new levels, the characters you meet and the level’s game mechanics shift up a bit. The levels aren’t as drastically different or quite as weirdly whimsical as the ones in Odyssey, but they feel a lot busier.

Jumping and punching are the main ways to control things, but there are plenty of other moves. There’s also a skill tree of abilities to unlock and power up, which uses points you accumulate by collecting giant, crystal bananas (just go with it). Donkey Kong can also buy new outfits, much like Mario Odyssey, but these outfits (or pieces of outfits) give extra perks, like cold resistance or faster energy recovery.

Each of the levels has goals and sub-bosses to fight, but also secret subchallenges to discover — some of them 3D, some 2D side-scrolling. There are other things to find, in every direction, on any potential hillside or surface, if you just pummel your fists and dig. The free-digging usually involves either finding more crystal bananas or various-sized fossils, which can be collected and redeemed for costumes. There’s gold to accumulate, too, which acts as general currency. But even as I rush to the next goal on any level, I’m equally tempted to just start digging around and see what’s going on somewhere else.

The Zelda zeitgeist

Here’s where Bananza really starts to feel like a lower-key Zelda game, especially when it comes to finding characters and following sub-missions. You can talk to lots of the strange characters in each sublevel, and some share important news. You’ll get directed to a particular goal, and on a 3D map, you can track your progress or warp to other spots. But as the game’s progress starts to wind up and down through sublevels, it begins to feel a lot more quest-y than any Mario game. 

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom kept coming to mind for me. That game’s vast overworld and underworld — and its various ways of finding passages between — is very much like Bananza. Also, like recent Zelda games, you can climb just about anywhere (or surf chunks of rock you rip out of the ground). The outfit perks feel Zelda-like, and so does the game’s sense of real-time, chaotic physics. Some puzzles involve understanding the environment and manipulating it, much like I did many times in Tears.

There’s also a sense of persistence in Bananza. You can create little home bases that let you rest up and change outfits. You’ll meander off and come back to locations. Mario Odyssey had some of this too, but Bananza feels more lived in.

Unlike recent Zeldas, though, this game’s challenges are relatively contained. You won’t have long lists of subquests or stories to lose track of. After spending months away from Zelda, and coming back not remembering what I was meant to do next, I appreciate Bananza’s simpler vibe.

A whole new yet familiar feel

Most importantly, Bananza just feels fresh. I get a little tired, sometimes, of diving back into new Zeldas and Marios that layer legends on top of legends. Donkey Kong’s universe is different from previous Kong games, especially the giant, wrinkled Elders who preside over subworlds like spirits, granting extra transformation powers. This is where the «Bananza» name comes in.

Accumulating enough gold triggers a chance to become a spirit animal. There’s a Bananza version of Kong that has stronger punches, an ostrich that can fly and drop egg bombs, and a zebra that can run fast over ice and water. (I haven’t unlocked any others yet.) 

After a week-plus of playing, I’m still consistently surprised by what I’m encountering. But I’m also finding it familiar and comfortable, just like a big summer movie. And that’s what this is: Nintendo’s big blockbuster summer game, one of the best I can remember. Something I don’t want to end, and I’m glad to have more to explore.

I’m also surprised by other things: there’s no online mode, which I don’t mind but feels surprising after Super Mario Wonder’s clever additions. The game download size is only 8GB, shockingly small compared to Switch 2 launch games like Cyberpunk 2077, which were nearly 60GB. I was getting worried about how much storage space I’d have on the Switch 2 over time, but if more games are like Bananza, things will be OK.

My youngest son was instantly interested in Bananza, so much so that he didn’t want me playing without him. I had to, though, so I could carve enough time out to play. We’re going to backtrack and play again, and he’ll start playing, too. Will Bananza feel as replayable and infinitely fun as many of Nintendo’s best? I can’t entirely tell yet, but there’s already so much I’ve skipped over in so many levels, I don’t doubt it. There’s also a 3D art mode thrown in as a bonus where you use the Joy-Cons to sculpt and paint ape heads and bunches of bananas.

Donkey Kong makes it worth buying a Switch 2

Bananza is a great sign for where Nintendo’s heading with the Switch 2. It feels like a more evolved version of many Switch games of the past, but just like Mario Kart World, the other major Switch 2 exclusive, it takes the good ideas even further. Bananza is also an extension of Nintendo’s universe, including the Super Mario Movie, which has a Donkey Kong that looks like this one, and Super Nintendo World, which has a Donkey Kong land, too. And yes, Super Nintendo World’s Donkey Kong Power-Up bands even work like Amiibo with this game. 

This is a game as vibrant and kinetic as Sony’s fantastic Astro Bot and similarly full of things to search for and do. In comparison, Super Mario Odyssey now seems surprisingly quiet and chill. 

And yes, this game is worth getting a Switch 2 for — that was the idea all along. It’s nice to see that Nintendo really pulled it off, though. Combined with Mario Kart World, this is a heck of a one-two punch. I’d still love a proper 3D Mario sequel someday, but Bananza is practically that right now.

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